1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to a cooking vessel used with microwave ovens and, more particularly, to a cooking vessel which is laid in a cooking cavity of a microwave oven to cook food using steam.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is well known to those skilled in the art, a microwave oven is an appliance which cooks food laid in its cooking cavity using microwaves irradiated from a magnetron into the cooking cavity. Typically, an electric heater cooks food by heating the surfaces of the food, but the microwave oven cooks food by heating the interior of the food through a dielectric heating method. That is, when microwaves irradiated from the magnetron of the microwave oven cause the molecules of moisture laden in food to vibrate, frictional heat is generated within the food, thereby cooking it.
However, such a conventional microwave oven is problematic in that food is cooked by frictional heat generated when microwaves irradiated from the magnetron cause the molecules of moisture laden in the food to vibrate, so moisture is removed from the food during a cooking process, thus deteriorating the taste and appearance of food. The conventional microwave oven has another problem in that it is difficult to cook steamed food to which water must be added during cooking.
Accordingly, it is an aspect of the present invention to provide a cooking vessel used with microwave ovens, which produces steam through a microwave heating method and rapidly steams food using the steam.
Additional aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
The foregoing and/or other aspects of the present invention are achieved by providing a cooking vessel used with microwave ovens, including a lower body containing water therein and made of a microwave permeable material, and a food supporting plate seated, at an edge thereof, on an upper edge of the lower body in such a way as to be spaced apart from a bottom of the lower body and made of a microwave blocking material, with a plurality of perforations being formed on the food supporting plate to allow steam to pass therethrough. The cooking vessel of the present invention also includes a lid which covers the lower body and is made of a microwave blocking material. A steam discharging hole is formed on the lid. In this case, the lid is seated at a lower edge thereof on the upper edge of the lower body in such a way that the lower edge of the lid is spaced apart from the edge of the food supporting plate by a predetermined interval, thus allowing a predetermined amount of microwaves to penetrate through the lid.
Further, a first step is provided along the upper edge of the lower body to support the edge of the food supporting plate, and a second step is provided along the upper edge of the lower body at a position higher than the first step to support the lower edge of the lid, which has a cross sectional area larger than a surface area of the food supporting plate. Thus, the food supporting plate and the lid are supported on the upper edge of the lower body in such a way as to be spaced apart from each other at the edges thereof.
In an aspect of the present invention, the interval between the edge of the food supporting plate and the lower edge of the lid is set to 5 mm or less.
At least one depression having a predetermined depth is formed on the food supporting plate, thus allowing spherical food items, such as eggs, to be easily laid on the food supporting plate.
In another aspect of the invention, each of the perforations which are provided on the food supporting plate is 1.8 mm in diameter.
Further, a cooking vessel used with microwave ovens includes a lower body containing water therein and designed to allow microwaves to penetrate the lower body, and a food supporting plate provided in the lower body in such a way as to be spaced apart from a bottom of the lower body and designed to allow steam to penetrate the food supporting plate while preventing microwaves from penetrating the food supporting plate. A lid engages with the lower body to define a cooking space along with the food supporting plate, and is designed to prevent microwaves from penetrating the lid. A microwave penetrating part is provided on the lower body between the lid and the food supporting plate.